Road leveler



Dec. 9, 1924! 1,518,505

r B. w. GRAY ROAD LEVELER Filed Sept, 21, 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 WITNESSES INVENTOR fie if 6511 I TTORNEYS Dec. 9, 1924. v I 1,518,505

B. w. GRAY ROAD LEVBLER v Filed Sept. 21; 1 922 :5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR WITNESSES ,Be rthlara y,

A TTORIVEYS Dec. 1924- 1,518,505

B. w. GRAY ROAD LEVELER' Filed Sept 21, 1922 s shets-sneet 5 INVENTOR Patented Dec. 9, i924. L

UNITED STATES 1mm WILLIAM (may, or nnnmon'r, Wisconsin.

ROAD LEVELER.

Application flied September 21, 1922. Serial No. 589,676.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BERT WILLIAM GRAY, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Belmont, in the county of Lafayette and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Road Levelers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is a road leveler and it consists in the combinations, constructions and arrangements herein described and claimed.

More specifically, my invention contemplates the provisionof an attachment for tractors which includes means adapted to be operated by a moving part of a tractor to which attached to cut off protuberances on a surface traversed.

A further object of the invention is to provide an attachment of the character described which is adapted to be attached to a tractor of ordinary construction in such manner as to be positioned in advance of the tractor and to be supported on thelatter for raising from active or scarifying position to inactive position or lowered to active position by the operator of the tractor at will.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an attachment of the character described which is relatively simple in construction, not likely to get out of order easily and thoroughly practical commercially.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following descr ption, and the novel features of the invention will be particularly outlined in the appended cla m.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this application, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a'tractor equipped with an attachment embodying the invention,

Figure 2 is a front elevation of the apparatus shown in Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a fragmentary perspective view showing a portion of the front axle of a tractor and a portion of the attachment secured thereto,

Figure 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of a portion of the attachment, and

Figure 5 is a relatively enlarged perspective view of the scarifying or cutting blade comprised in the device.

Referring now to the drawings and particularly to Figures 1 and 2 thereof. the numeral 1 designates a tractor of a well known axle 2 of the tractor at points -equi-distant from the point at which the longitudinal axis of the tractor intersects the plane of the transverse median line of the front axle. The means for hingedly attaching the arms 4-4 to the front axle 2 preferably comprises a pair of angular hinge plates 6 each having one leg secured in superimposed relation to the front axle 2 and the other leg thereof socured in contiguous relation to the forward side of the axle. A pair of angular hinge plates 7 cooperate with the hinge plates 6 and each has one leg thereof secured to one of the arms 4 at the rearward end of the latter in superimposed relation thereto and has the other leg thereof which is vertically disposed when the arms are in the position in which illustrated connected with the depending or second named leg of one of the firsthinge plate members by means of a pintle 8. With the arrangement described, the

arms 44 may be swung u wardly from horizontal position about the iorizontal axis common to the two pintles 8. 7

Each of the horizontally disposed legs of the hinge members 6 is connected at its rearward end by a pintle 9 with a hinge member 10 which is secured to the lower-end portion of an upstanding rigid stay member or lever 11 which may be of bar formation, as shown. With the organization described the stay members 11 are disposed substantially at right angles to the arms 4 and are maintained in this relation to the latter through the agency of links 12, each of which is pivotally attached at its one end to one of the stay members 11 intermediately of the length of the latter and is rigidly attached at its other end to the main frame member 3 intermediate the one end of the latter and the juncture thereof with one of the arms 4. The stay'members 11 are shown as extending vertically from the front axle 2 at oppositesides of the radiator of the tractor and are connected at their upper ends by means of links or connectin rods 13 with a lever 14 which is fulcrume at its lower end upon a sector-plate 15 that is secured to a fixed part of the tractor adjacent to the seat for the operator of the tractor. The connections of the links or operating rods 13 to the lever 14 are pivotal and intermediate the length of the latter. The lever 14 is provided with a spring pressed latch or pawl 16 adapted to engage teeth or notches 17 in the edge of the sectorlate 15 whereby the lever 14 may be releasa ly locked to the sector-plate in adjusted position when swung about its fulcrum. When the upper end of the lever 14, which is fashioned to be gripped by hand, is grasped and ulled rearwardly, the stay members 11 wil likewise be swung rearwardly about the axis common to the pintles 99 and the arms 4 and the main frame member 3 will be swung upwardly. When the lever 14 is moved forwardly the arms 4 and the main frame member 3 will be lowered.

The main frame 3 also is provided with pairs of arms 18 extending in spaced parallel relation forwardly of the end portions thereof. The forwardly extending arms 18 are provided at their extremities with bearings 19 in which is journaled a shaft 20. Secured to the shaft 20 are frames designated generally at 21 each comprising apair of spaced apart disks 22 keyed to the shaft and being connected by transverse rods 23 arranged in spaced parallel series and having their end portions secured to the disks 22 of each palr adjacent to the peripheral edges of the latter. A plurality of scarifying or cutting blades 24 are mounted on each of the rods 23 to swing about the axis of the latter. Each of the scarifying blades 24 comprises a longitudinal body having an opening 25 therethrough adjacent to its one end, the opening 25 being adapted to have one of the rods 23 projected therethrough so that the blade will turn freely on the rod. Each of the scarifying blades 24 is enlarged at one side adjacent to its outer end as indicated at 26, the enlargement having side walls converging to provide a sharp lateral cutting ed e 27 for the blade.

The sha .20 is the driven shaft of the attachment and is provided with a pulley 28 secured thereto intermediate of its length. The shaft 20 is rotated by a torque imparted thereto throu h the pulley 28 by belt connection 29 wit a pulley 30 secured to a jack shaft 31 that is mounted in bearings 32 at the upper, ends of supporting members 33 carrie by the main frame member 3 and preferably integral therewith. Motion is transmitted to the jack shaft 31 through a pulley 34 secured thereto and a belt 35 fromv a rotating lpart of the power plant of the tractor, suc as the ulley indicated at 36 in Figures 1 and 2. he supports 33 may be.

stayed to certain of the arms 18 by inclined braces 37 and stayed to each other by a transverse or horizontal brace 38.-

From the foregoing description of the various parts of the device, the operation thereof ma 20 will be turned at a relatively high speed when the power plant of the tractor 1s in o eration and when desired. Obviously, c utch arrangements of any suitable known type of construction, none being shown, may be provided in association with the means described for transmitting power from the power plant of the tractor to-the shaft 20 for disconnecting the latter from the power plant of the tractor when operation of the shaft and the parts carried thereby is not desired. Upon rotation of the shaft 20, the blades 24 will be actuated by centrifugal force to swing into planes leading radially to the axisof the shaft 20. In the embodiment of the invention illustrated, the blades 24 are positioned on the rods'23 so that the cutting edges thereof will be swung forcibly impact of t e cutting edges of the blades 24 1 against protuberances on a road surface when the shaft 20 is rotated inthe manner described is sufficiently great to cause the top portions of such protuberances or raised portions to be sheared ofi', thus leveling the road surface. The device is designed primarily, although not necessarily, for use in repairing roads having ruts and furrows therein caused by the wheels of vehicles passing thereover digging into the earth when the latter was in a softened or semiplastic condition, as is likely to occur when vehicles traverse a dirt or clay road after rain has fallen thereon or snow thereon has melted. Relatively raised and depressed portions are thus formed in the. surfaces of such roads and travel over the roads is difficult after the relatively raised portions have become hardened because of freezing or other cause. These relatively raised portions of the road surface are' reduced to a desired level when a tractor equipped with my improved scarifying attachment is employed in the manner described.

-When desired, the supporting frame of the attachment can be raised by operation of the lever 14 and releasably maintained in raised position with the blades 24 held out of contact with a surface to be traversed by the tractor. Also, the supporting frame of the attachment can be lowered through operation of the lever to active position in be readily understood. The shaft which the blades willcontact with the rela vtively raised portions of a surface to be traversed and will shear such portions from the surface, as stated.

Obviously, my invention is susceptible of embodiment in forms other than. that herein disclosed and I therefore consider as my own all modifications of the form of the device herein disclosed which fairly fall within the scope of the appended claim.

I claim A scarifying attachment for tractors comprising a frame having a pair of spaced apart parallel arms, a pair of elongated rigid members, a pair of double hinges, each comprising two spaced apart hinge plates and a third hinge plate pivotally connected flat its opposite ends to the first hinge plates.

said third hinge plate being" adapted to be rigidly secured to the front axle of a trac- I tor, one of said first hinge plates being rigidly secured to one of said arms and the other of the first hinge plates being rigidly secured to one of said elongated rigid members, similar tie members adjustably connecting said frame with said elongated rigid members and holding said elongated rigid members in angular relation to said frame, means for connecting said elongated rigid members with an operating lever on said tractor so that operation of said lever will efiect simultaneous swinging movement of said elongated rigid members and said frame, and scarifying means carried by said frame and adapted to be actuated by connec- 35 tion with a rotating part on said tractor.

BERT WILLIAM Gear, 

